Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) are planning a trip to Afghanistan to investigate the situation of women's human rights. Maloney and Rohrabacher made the announcement at a House Human Rights Caucus briefing on October 30. The Representatives, who sponsored a House resolution condemning the Taliban's discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, also plan to write letters to the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asking them to stop supporting and arming the Taliban.

Testifying at the briefing were Sima Wali, president of Refugee Women in Development; Rona Popal, President of Afghan Women Association International; Momina Qaiyomi, an Afghan nurse who lived under Taliban rule; and Zieba Shorish-Shamley, Director of the Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan. Qaiyomi testified that when the Taliban took over Jalalabad, where she lived, "they closed and put big locks on schools and hospitals." She saw a veiled woman and her husband being beaten with metal cables by the Taliban because a bit of the woman's feet were showing. She also witnessed the Taliban killing people by slitting their throats.

The House resolution on Afghan human rights is expected to pass next week. The Senate has already passed a similar resolution.